Reintroduction tips

I have a large female cat we call Little Bit who started harassing the newest cat, Leon in October of last year. He became so scared if her he stopped using the litter box and I feel like I have tried every suggestion possible to ease the tension since. Leon has gotten a lot bigger since then and he comes out more often but hides under the couch in her presence. She's so aggressive with him we just had to take him to the vet for a severe infection due to a scratch in his eye (thought he was going to lose it!). He will use the litter box now but only if I take him. At night he will come get in the bed and pee in the bed if I don't wake up in time to take him to the litter box. It's like having a small child

Due to this issues I decided to finally try reintroducing them. Bit Bit was my sanctuary cat of choice because I feel like Leon needs to become comfortable in traveling around the apartment on his own without me babying him and carrying him from room to room. It's been a disaster so far I feel like. Bit HATES being in this room. She meows loudly and claws at the carpet trying to get it. She's only calm when I'm in the room with her. She has all the necessities, a huge cat tree and other furniture to climb high on, and toys! I don't know if I can keep her in here for the time I need if she is going to be this way. Is there anything I can do to make her more at ease? This is my first experience with this and I'm only going by blogs I've read on the Internet so all experiences and suggestions are very welcome!

A few thoughts come to mind.  Have you any feliway diffusers?  If not you might want to try a few.  You will need one in each different room.  Also Composure liquid Max works to help calm both cats.  It can be used on the more aggressive cat as well as helping with the more timid cat.  You can find both on Amazon.  I had great success when using both while introducing two cats.  It took a long long time, but after a year they were fully integrated.

Do you have much vertical space so that once cat can jump to safety from the other?  Take a look at Jackson Galaxy's site and ideas on Catification.  He suggests putting up lots of shelving to build a cat super highway.

If you do reintroductions and it sounds like you need to, the cats have to separated 24/7.  I used to rotate the cats.  I also used a cheap wooden screen door that I set against the door frame and attached with tension rods.  I had a baby gate in the door way for a bit of extra protection.  This was only used when I was home , but it allowed the cat inside the room to see and hear what was happening in the house.  It also was super helpful for introductions.

A large dog crate may also come in handy.  One cat can go inside and you can cover it on 3 sides with a large sheet.  This too is a safer way to handle intros.

Here are some articles and a video on intros.  Even though you need to do reintroductions, the same exact principals apply.  The key is to take each step slowwwwww.  If you rush, you will be back to square one.  If there is hissing or growling, you are not ready to move forward.  You need a few days of no hissing, growling or posturing before the next step occurs. 

I too would carry around one of my cats.  He was terrified.  I realized that was creating more of a problem.  When I calmed myself, the cats were better too.  They really picked up on my stress and fed off it.

You also can look into Jackson Galaxy's Spirit Essences.  Two that come to mind are Stress Stopper and Bully Remedy.  I have used them both and had good results.

Slow, and steady along with lots of patience is the key.

Thank you for reaching out and looking for help.  Many of us have been there before.

http://www.thecatsite.com/a/the-ultimate-yet-simplified-guide-to-introducing-cats

http://www.catbehaviorassociates.com/a-simple-little-trick-to-use-during-new-cat-introductions/

http://www.aspca.org/pet-care/virtual-pet-behaviorist/cat-behavior/introducing-your-cat-new-cat

http://jacksongalaxy.com/2010/10/01/cat-to-cat-introductions/

When I sat I have tried everything in the past few months... diffusers, more litter boxes, more toys, more vertical space, more hiding spots etc. When I had to take Leon to the vet for his eye the vet even prescribed her some medication to mellow her out -- did not even see ANY changes in her. I have a multi cat household and I know tensions arise because of that but this relationship between these two is catastrophic. I do very much want to try the spirit essences, it's one of the only things I haven't tried but after spending the money on the Feliway diffuser and it was completely unsuccessful my husband gets pretty upset when I mention wanting to buy something else to waste money

Thank you for the links and the video, it's very helpful. I read on a blog not to make this feel like a prison sentence for the cat in the sanctuary room but it's really been difficult. I just can't always be in this roon with her playing I keep telling myself the end result will hopefully justify all of this, but this is definitely no easy task!

l couldn't be in my cats  room a lot in the day because of being disabled eccept at night as its my bedrom but l have the door open and talk to her from the living room across the hall . From reading your post l wondered if you have tried to many things. Maybe for a few days don't try anything. I was told on the web that sometimes to ignore them works, this lady said it worked for her and everything came right in  3 weeks.

I did try it with Daisy but it didn't last one day due to me forgetting and starting to talk to her but you might be a lot better,

             Jill  uk

It's been over several months that we've gone through diffusers, medicines and different tactics. I've also heard about the ignoring routine but the few times I've tried I haven't been very good at it

This reintroduction is also very difficult though. If she's the sanctuary cat she meows and tries to break down the door when I'm not in there with her, if she's the run of the house cat she's trying to get in the room where Leon is and meowing outside of it if she doesn't go in with me I don't know how to make this process work. The whole idea is positive association through food but she won't eat because she's too dead set on getting in and out of the room.